My Top 10 Shows (+Bonus) in 2021-2022 Emmy Season So Far

[dbyrde]

 

 

Since the Pride Month ended and the summer started burning us, we have been getting closer to the day when Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced. As you know, the eligibity of getting an Emmy nomination starts on June 1st and ends on May 31st, the following year. So, in my first topic I am going to counting down my top 10 (+Bonus) shows in 2021-2022 Emmy Season so far. Hence the earth shattering, explosive, new season of our diabolical cunt show The Boys started on June 3rd and the my best new shows like The Old Man, Dark Winds, Sherwood (British Drama) & Irma Vep (TV adaptation of the film same name) started also in June 2022, these shows won't be included until my next post about it next year. So, let's begin!

Honorable Mention: Ozark (Season 4)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore (Episode 407: Sanctified)

The Best Writing: Sanctified (Episode 407) by Miki Johnson

The Best Directing: Pound of Flesh and Still Kickin' (Episode 411) by Laura Linney

I'm not gonna lie, this final season couldn't reach to the excellent previous season and I have mixed feelings and thoughts in the final episode but the season carried with great acting and good character development. We finally witnessed Marty's coming out of his shell and becoming a darker human being. Wendy became more harmful to herself and the others but she was forced to confront her past actions. In the end, life still goes on shitty to the Byrde Family and they still will watch their neck however unlike people of color and southern poor white people who got their hands dirty, they got away with their crimes again because of their upper middle class white liberal privilige. I think that makes sense in some way but it could have been planned better by writers. Nevertheless I have no regrets of watching this series including the polarized series finale and I'm thankful for the people in front of and behind camera.

10. The White Lotus (Season 1)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya McQuoid (Episode 103: Mysterious Monkeys)

The Best Writing: Recentering (Episode 104) by Mike White

The Best Directing: Departures (Episode 106) by Mike White

What can I say, The White Lotus is a simply embrassment of riches. The show has tackled issues very well like toxic masculinity, addiction, white privilige, insecurity etc. We witnessed the shocking scenes like the manager Armond (Murray Bartlett aka daddy) rimming his employee Dillon (Lukas Gage), pooping in a guest room where the asshole Shane (Jake Lacy) stayed and unfortunately his death. Well, I am indecisive whether this is an another trope of bury your gay or not but at least Mike White didn't resort to cliches aimed at Armond's fate. Rather, Armond paid the price of his weakness. In conclusion, this show is so funny but also so brutal. Last but not least the main theme and the score are so delightful.

9. Under the Banner of Heaven (Miniseries) 

Spoiler

 

The Best Performer: Billy Howle as Allen Lafferty (Episode 101: When God Was Love)

The Best Writing: When God Was Love (Episode 101) by Dustin Lance Black

The Best Directing: Revelation (Episode 106) by Isabel Sandoval

Andrew Garfield peaked his career at last year as Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick... Boom! and as Spider Man (cameo) in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Then after landing an another Oscar nomination in Tick, Tick... Boom!, he starred in a television miniseries as a lead role in Under The Banner of Heaven. It was created by Oscar winning Milk (2008) screenwriter and the husband of Tom Daley (Gold Medal Winning Diver of 2020 Tokyo Olympics) and an ex-mormon Dustin Lance Black. Like Lance's previous writings of Big Love which is also a show about Mormon religion (haven't watched it though) this shows deals with Mormon faith, moreover this mini-series goes deep into the origin of Mormonism by telling stories of the architects of Mormon religion Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and their ambition to articulate their promise like the polygamy. After a century later the tyrant of Lafferty family who are widely known about their reputation started to crumble. Their actions of attempting polygamy, child molestation, domestic violence, making their women obey them contributed their downfall. So, Brenda Lafftery's warning her sister-in-laws against their husband's plans made the Lafferty men felt (!) more threatened and this led to the murder against Brenda Lafferty and her infant kid. Although the show was based on a non-fiction book by Jon Krauker, a journalist; it was semi-fictonalized by adding fictional characters like Jeb Pyre, a Mormon cop whose life is shattered because of the homicide, played by Garfield. After watching all the episodes what I wanted to say is the show was aired in a right time before the U.S is dealing with abortion ban and school shooting. It was well-directed and the score and the cinematography haunted me enough.

8. What We Do in the Shadows (Season 3)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Literally everyone in various episodes

The Best Writing:  The Wellness Center (Episode 308) by Stefani Robinson

The Best Directing: The Portrait (Episode 310) by Yana Gorskaya

If you have liked the movie of the same name, you are gonna love this show. It is hilarious so much. The writers have lots of amazing ideas to make us laugh. Almost every character are so weird, queer, camp, funny and creepy at the same time. So, get ready for some blood and piss off the werevolves, witches and a half-chicken half-human creature.

7. Dopesick (Miniseries)

Spoiler

 

The Best Performer: Kaitlyn Dever as Betsy Mallum (Episode 107: Black Box Warning)

The Best Writing:  Pseudo-Addiction (Episode 104) by Jessica Mecklenburg

The Best Directing: The People vs. Purdue Pharma (Episode 108) by Danny Strong

This show differs from most drug related stories. The reason was Oxycontin. This drug was legal and easily accessible in any pharmacy. Dopesick did a great job about how the Purdue Pharma lied, manipulated, gaslighted doctors, patients to make their drug greenlight and then sell to the patients so quickly. The opioid crisis is a gangrene of the America, particularly the working-class Americans whose jobs requires lots of body effort like the mining and Oxycontin who includes much opioid benefited from it. The series is told in multiple point of views and timelines like Traffic (2000 movie) by Steven Soderbergh and we get deeper about mining workers, doctors, authorities, the DEA and of course the fucking Sackler family who owns the Purdue Pharma. I think it must be watched and taught in schools, because the Americans still couldn't get rid of Oxycontin at all.

6. Maid (Miniseries)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Andie Macdowell as Paula Langley (Episode 107: String Cheese)

The Best Writing: Bear Hunt (Episode 108) by Marcus Gardley and Molly Smith Metzler

The Best Directing: Dollar Store (Episode 101) by John Wells

Maid which is inspired by Stephanie Land's memoir of the same name is about a emotinally abused mother Alex Russell who suddenly escapes with her daughter from the abusive partner Sean. Later she founds herself as a maid. Maid is an complex story how a college dropout girl handles with a lot of problems like her bipolar mom, an estranged father, an alcoholic abusive partner, poverty, insults, homelessness, survival etc. John Wells, like his previous work Shameless (US) does approach the lives of working class people with an empathy. Maid is not an tear-jerker porn or romanticised poor life story. Rather we see this kind of story as full of humanity. Margaret Qualley finally shines with her lead role as Alex and I expect nothing from her but a good career and a good life, however I must say Andie Macdowell who plays Alex's mom Paula and also real-life mom of Qualley was a scene-stealer in every minute where she exists.

 5. Yellowjackets (Season 1)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Christina Ricci as Misty Quigley (Episode 103: The Dollhouse)

The Best Writing:  Pilot (Episode 101) by Ashley Lyle & Bart Nickerson

The Best Directing: Pilot (Episode 101) by Karyn Kusama

When I was selected as a model student in my highschool between Winter-Spring 2015 my school principal at that time gave me a book as a prize. The book is called 'The Lord of the Flies'. When I started to read this, I've immadietly loved it. The book is about teenage boys who stranded on a island after plane crash. Then the boys had to survive by doing some crazy shit. So, when the project 'Yellowjackets' was ordered a pilot I was curious of it from the beginning. After that, it announced its cast and it was dope. The show was delayed too much after the cast and the crew finished shooting a pliot in late 2019, because of the COVID but I was still curious if it is gonna come out as good. Thankfully Showtime gave the series order in December 2020. After 11 months the show came out and I am hooked after a horrific opening scene of Yellowjackets. The show is about teenage girl soccer team who was a state champion in 1996 then who stranded in the Ontario woods in 19 months after plane crashed which it was supposed to go Seattle where the girls was going to play in the National League first. Then it takes after 25 years when some survived teenage girls became adult woman and their life is treathened again because of the incident. The show has an interesting journey. When Warner Bros announced of the female reimagining of 'The Lord of the Flies' it had a backlash like Ghosbusters (2016) and Oceans 8 but after co-creator Ashley Lyle saw that article she began to develop this idea. Even the dead William Golding, the author of the book, disagree this idea way before this announcement that teenage girls can't be brutal like the boys. We would be wrong that Yellowjackets simply remaked and make female of the book totally. The shows borrows lots of used elements from real-life cannibalism in order to survival in the middle of nowhere like "Andes Flight Crash" and "Donner Party", brutalism from "The Lord of the Flies" and supernatural stuff from "Lost". Although Yellowjackers is a "genre-bending" show the mixture didn't turn out like gruel. This turned out like an excellent food with a lot of mixed ingridients. Acting is so great, casting of young women fits with their adult counterparts, the original score is so errie and the soundtrack of 90's music takes back us to the nostalgia. Like Juliette Lewis who is in the show said the script of the pilot is so great. In conclusion like I said "Yellowjackets" is not a simply remake of "The Lord of the Flies". It is an answer to "The Lord of the Flies" like that book was an answer to a book called "The Coral Island".

 4. Heartstopper (Season 1)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Literallt everyone in various episodes

The Best Writing:  Boyfriend (Episode 108) by Alice Oseman

The Best Directing: Boyfriend (Episode 108) by Euros Lyn

Trigger Warning: Graphic Content in Moonrise Kingdom (It contains spoilers from the movie.)

I am still furious that this lovely comic-book series is banned to the kids in Turkey as "This is not suitable for kids!" which is totally absurd. What's worse when the series adaptaiton aired, "The Ministry of Family" of Turkey decided the series as "detriment and salacious".So, they put the series as +18. No backlash made against the movies/series about romance between a boy and a girl which they are underage; for example in "Moonrise Kingdom"

Spoiler

when a boy and a girl kisses and the boy touches her breast,

nobody even bat an eyelash. I mean wtf. I can't stand with hypocrisy of cis-het people ignoring LGBTQ+ kids' existence and if we say about their existence they would immadietly accuse us of "sexualizing kids". Everyone, I mean everyone who read the comic-books knows that this story is not "hypersexual" like Euphoria. That's why the series and the comic-books cries out by not yelling that queer kids exist. The series is a love letter to them. I love almost every single character. What I like about the series that it is not tragic or doesn't see it through rose-tinted glasses. I hate the term "normal" but the queer characters are just normal like cis-het people. In Alice Oseman's world broke all the cliche tropes of any teen drama/comedies. For instance, homophobes are just homophobes. They are not insecure about their sexuality or repressed people. They're just bullies. Secondly, There are a lot of positive visibilities among queer people. Yasmin Finney's character Elle, a black trans woman is shown in a positive-light. Elle is basically life saver and role model to all trans youth. Thirdly, another sterotype breaking of issue is "Bury your lesbians" trope. Darcy and Tara might be cutest fictional lesbian couple on TV. They are not killed off (

Spoiler

Killing Eve

I'm saying this to you). Fourthly, Nick in Heartstopper breaked the stereotypical "Jock Guy" who has an internalized homophobia and has a crush on a effeminate gay guy. He loves sports and is in a rugby team. He encouraged Charlie to join his rugby team. In the end Charlie is good at it but when the teammates bullied him against his queerness, Nick stood up for Charlie who Nick met him only a couple of days ago against his friends in a long time. After then when he realized he has a crush on Charlie, he got confused and struggled on his sexuality however he didn't cut longers like bullying or abusing his crush or making an inappropiate homophobic jokes, instead he was given time to finding a path. In the end Nick came out as bi and Charlie who is gay quickly embraces his bisexualness. On the other hand, Ben Hope who is also bi covered his sexuality and because of that he oppressed and abused Charlie to hide his sexuality but Charlie didn't replied to him as "unfaithful or sex-crazed closeted bisexual", instead Charlie confronted Ben due to his toxic behavior.

In conclusion, Heartstopper is a feel-good romantic drama among queer people. Although the show and comic-itself has focusing on the romance two cis-white men, the supporting characters are not here as "token" or one dimensional "In your face!" unlikeable people. They are here as "three-dimensional people" like Nick and Charlie. Yes, let kids just be kids but don't tore them apart their experiences. Plus, Olivia Colman is here as an unexpected guest-star.

 3. Severance (Season 1)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Britt Lower as Helly R. (Episode 109: The We We Are)

The Best Writing:  The We We Are (Episode 109) by Dan Erickson

The Best Directing: The We We Are (Episode 109) by Ben Stiller

Work fucking sucks, especially when your personal life collides with your professional life. What if we could seperate them forever? Severance answers this question but it gets worse than you imagine. The show is basically inspired from Charlie Brooker's "Black Mirror", Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End". You think life is better or stable by seperating your two lives but it isn't. It is an another trope of "dystopia" which is invisible and sneaky. But this miserable life is not ahead of our present time. It's closer than you think. Character and the plot is well-written and the season finale was edge your seat thriller in a short time. This season finale is a major cliffhanger episode that we've waited for years.

2. Better Call Saul (Season 6A)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Michael Mando as Ignacio "Nacho" Varga (Episode 603: Rock and Hard Place)

The Best Writing:  Rock and Hard Place (Episode 603) by Gordon Smith

The Best Directing: Rock and Hard Place (Episode 603) by Gordon Smith

The more Better Call Saul airs its episodes, the more we get closer to the Breaking Bad. The show gave us more answers of the unanswered questions in Breaking Bad. The writer's room were simply careful of their storyline. In this half-season we saw two shocking deaths. In one hand Nacho Varga said goodbye to us by delivering his iconic monologue to the Salamancas. As we see it, Nacho is tired of running and working with a Gus' cartel. He only cared about his father's security. He finally understood that he wouldn't die of natural causes or bad disease, so instead of letting people execute himself, he took his own life. There are good deaths, there are bad deaths but Nacho make his choice of being killed from his own hands. On the other hand, there is Howard. He is also tired of being scammed, manipulated and gaslighted by Jimmy and Kim. But he sometimes can be overwhelmed by his frailities. He didn't just let go to the Sandpiper case. But his reactions are understandable. So, when he confronted Jimmy and Kim after drinking too much alcohol, he got trapped by Lalo. Jimmy and Kim knew Lalo's tendencies but Howard didn't. He was at the wrong place and a wrong time. That cliffhanger shocks us a lot. The second final part is coming in a week, so we'll see if Jimmy/Saul/Gene is gonna get a happy ending after all that.

  1. Succession (Season 3)

Spoiler

The Best Performer: Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy (Episode 305: Retired Janitors of Idaho)

The Best Writing:  All the Bells Say (Episode 309) by Jesse Armstrong

The Best Directing: The Distruption (Episode 303) by Cathy Yan

Speaking of embrassment of riches, this one is a perfect example of rich people's conceits and egos. Every single character is so unlikeable that you wanna punch their face but you cannot look away from them. They are interesting characters. Kendall's trollings, Shiv's manipulations, Roman's mommy issues, Logan's "fuck off"s, Tom's breakdowns, Greg's Gregic behaviors etc. This show is melodramatic, darkly funny and entertaining all at once. The season finale makes us wonder what's gonna happen next. The shooting started in Late June so we have to wait longer than ever. This show is modern version of "King Lear" with sauces of Murdoch.